Chapter 4

Nyla walked straight to my bedside and looked down at me.

"Stop waiting. Varkon's busy preparing a blessing ceremony for my pup.

"You don't even have a wolf anymore, so what makes you think you're worthy of his love? Even if you die right in front of him this very second, he won't spare you a glance."

My heart plummeted into a hollow silence.

The blessing ceremony began shortly after. Despite my frailty, Nyla had the guards drag me out into the biting winds of the plaza.

Varkon noticed and immediately waved for me to return to rest, but Nyla clung to his arm and swung it. "It's a day for the whole pack to pray for our pup. Let her stay and share in the blessing."

Varkon nodded and shot me a cold look. "Nyla's always thinking of you, yet you're always trying to hurt her!"

She noticed my lips turning pale from the cold and leaned close to whisper, "Varkon used to say your Eclipse Dance was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, but what does that matter now?

"He won't even touch your hand anymore. A lowly, broken thing like you doesn't belong near the Alpha."

Then, she turned back to Varkon and said, "Everyone's in such a good mood today. Why don't we have her come up on stage and dance with me?"

I didn't have the strength to dance, but he still had the guards drag me up onto the stage.

When the music began to play, Nyla danced gracefully before the crowd.

Suddenly, she stumbled. As she fell, she grabbed my collar and used my body as a cushion, shoving me toward the jagged rocks at the stage's edge.

The sharp rocks tore into my calf before blood gushed out.

Varkon frantically rushed to the unharmed Nyla without sparing a glance at me lying in a pool of blood.

Mother ran up behind him. She grabbed Nyla's hand in concern, then turned to glare at me viciously. "You vile wolf! Are you trying to kill my grandpup?"

Nestled in Varkon's arms, Nyla managed a few drops of tears. "Please don't blame her. I know she hates me after I took her place.

"Maybe I should just leave. I don't want you to fight for me—you're the real family here, after all."

She always liked playing the victim, and Varkon fell for it every time.

He immediately pointed at me and yelled, "You're hopeless! Nyla was kind enough to let you join, and you used it as a chance for revenge.

"Apologize to her now!"

As she triumphantly arched her brows, I closed my eyes in despair. I was too tired to even argue.

Bracing my hands on the ground, I lowered my head to Nyla. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

Varkon seemed surprised by my submission before his eyes fell on the blood pooling on the floor.

"Are you… actually hurt?"

That was when a sudden commotion erupted in the crowd. A wolf guard reported that Rogues were harassing the pack's borders.

Varkon immediately led a patrol and left, leaving Nyla temporarily in charge of the pack. But once he left, she ordered the guards to drag me to her room and dismissed them all.

A sinister smile spread across her face.

Moments later, a piercing scream echoed from inside the room. The guards burst in to find Nyla lying on the floor, pale and convulsing, while I held a stalk of wolfsbane.

"Seize her!"

They pinned me to the floor.

When Varkon raced back after hearing the news, he barged into the room to see her unconscious from poison. His eyes turned a feral, bloodshot red, blazing with a fury that could burn me to ashes.

He drew a whip lined with barbs.

With a loud crack, the first lash split the skin on my back.

"Varkon…" I wheezed, trying to find words for the truth.

"Still making excuses!" he roared and struck harder. The barbs tore through my flesh without mercy.

I writhed in agony until I no longer even had the strength to scream.

To appease Nyla, Varkon decided to leave me to her disposal. Once he left, she had me locked in a silver cage packed with wolfsbane.

The silver seared my skin, and my flesh started rotting in large patches. I could feel my life slipping away.

I grabbed a guard's foot and begged him to relay one last message for help to Varkon, but he coldly replied, "The Alpha said a vicious she-wolf like you doesn't deserve mercy even if you die ten thousand times."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips as I looked up through the dungeon window. Night had fallen.

A drop of blood-tinged tear slid from the corner of my eye.

"Varkon, it's as you wished…"

…

On the pack grounds, the pack wolves shifted and howled at the full moon.

At the same time, Varkon felt a violent, agonizing pain in his chest. It was as if a piece of his soul had just been ripped out.

A fear unlike anything he'd ever known seized him. Before he even realized it, he was racing toward the dungeon.